Stitcher raises $10M to improve web-based talk radio

Personalized web talk radio company Stitcher on Wednesday announced it has raised $10 million to improve the state of non-musical streaming content on the Web.

Stitcher wants to tap into the $5 billion in annual revenues generated by talk radio advertising. The service lets users build personalized talk radio stations from more than 6,000 different shows that cover news, sports, entertainment, comedy and more. High-profile shows that Stitcher pulls content from include NPR’s Fresh Air, Rush Limbaugh, CNN News, Chelsea Lately, Marc Maron and Fox Sports. Mobile apps for the service can be downloaded for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and webOS.

“Stitcher has created for talk radio what Pandora, Spotify, and others have built for music,” said Ravi Viswanathan, NEA general partner, in a statement. “They’ve made it personalized, they’ve made it mobile, and they’ve made it available when and where people want it.”

Stitcher will use the new funding to help build its sales team, grow its offerings and make its product better, the company said. New Enterprise Associates led the funding round, with additional participation from Benchmark Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, and investor Ron Conway. The new round brings the company’s total funding to $20 million.

Stitcher has already taken promising first steps in terms of growth. In the last year, the company said it has more than doubled registered users to 3.4 million, increased content offerings by half and quadrupled user listening time.